Artistic merit is the perceived artistic quality or value of any given work of art, music, film, literature, sculpture or painting. The term can be applied to a classic or masterpiece which has stood the test of time and is part of the Western canon or to a contemporary work, where the judgment is more subjective.

In Western Europe from around 1500 to 1870, artistic merit was closely related to faithfulness to nature—though not always as literal, precise transcription but certainly as an interest in some aspect of the physical world—and sometimes narrative coherence (in many cases history painting was considered the highest form of art) and obedience to classical precepts. Such criteria, however, waned with the rise of modernism and later postmodernism.

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Literary merit

Obscenity and literary merit

Literary merit refers to what constitutes a high quality of writing.

At the trial of James Joyce's novel Ulysses in 1921, though not required to do so by law, Quinn the lawyer for the defence decided to produce three literary experts to attest to the literary merits of Ulysses, as well as The Little Review’s broader reputation. The first expert witness was Philip Moeller, of the Theatre Guild, who interpreted Ulysses using the Freudian method of unveiling the subconscious mind, which prompted one of the judges to ask him to "speak in a language that the court could understand". The next witness was Scofield Thayer, editor of The Dial, another literary magazine of the time, who "was forced to admit that if he had had the desire to publish Ulysses he would have consulted a lawyer first—and not published it". The final witness was English novelist, lecturer, and critic John Cowper Powys, who declared that Ulysses was a "beautiful piece of work in no way capable of corrupting the minds of young girls" (Anderson, My Thirty Years' War, 220).

Measures of merit

There is no correlation between literary merit and product sales. The erotic romanceFifty Shades of Grey has sold over 125 million copies worldwide despite being poorly written according to literary critics. In comparison, John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath has been critically acclaimed for its symbolism, plot, and character development, and has sold only approximately 14 million copies. Book series such as Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings, have received both positive reviews and sold well. Therefore, it is entirely possible for literature to be both critically and commercially successful.